It's almost 2 months ago now, but I really would like to write something about the Tori Amos concert in De Doelen in Rotterdam on 1 October 2012 . It was the third time I visited a live concert of Tori Amos and again it was great. She was playing together with the Dutch Metropole Orchestra, so the show was a bit similar to the first one I went to (on 8 October 2010), which was the first time she played with this orchestra. They performed all songs of Tori's new album Gold Dust, together with some other songs. The sound of the songs was much more powerful and emotional during the live performance than on the album. They also had pretty long instrumental introductions performed by the orchestra, which were quite nice, because you couldn't hear immediately which song would follow.

She started the show with Flying Dutchman, which didn't go exactly according to plan as you can see on the video below. This moment was actually quite cute and funny…

This is Tori Amos most recent studio album, which was officially released on the 1st of October 2012. I pre-ordered it and received it already on the 29th of September. The album is a collection of 14 songs from Tori's 20 year spanning career. All songs were rearranged and rerecorded in a full orchestral setting with the Dutch Metropole Orchestra. She personally picked the songs for this project, on which she gives the following comment:"My relationship with all of these songs has changed over the years and they have changed my life. So it wasn't just about capturing the past it was about realizing that the songs had a new narrative now - 10 or 20 years later than they did when I originally recorded them." Unfortunately this 'new narrative' did not become very clear on the album. Most of the orchestral arrangements are very beautiful, but not really adding something new or original to the songs. …

So I ran fasterBut it caught me hereYes my loyalties turnedLike my ankleIn the seventh gradeRunning after Billy,Running after the rain.

These precious things,Let them bleed,Let them wash away.These precious things,Let them break their hold over me.

He said you're really an ugly girlBut I like the way you playAnd I died, but I thanked him,Can you believe that, sick,Holding on to his picture,Dressing up every day.I wanna smash the facesOf those beautiful boys,Those christian boys.So you can make me cum that doesn't make you Jesus.

These precious things,Let them bleed,Let them wash away.These precious things,Let them break their hold over me

I remember In my peach party dress,No one dared,No one cared,To tell me where the pretty girls are, …

Since the release of Night of Hunters about a month ago, also my ranking list of Tori Amos albums needed an update. And I discovered that it was more than just adding a new album to the list. Some albums grew on me while others became less important to me, or maybe I over-listened them a bit. So this is my new ranking list, starting with the best one on top:

Both the release of Night of Hunters and seeing her perform live during the Night of Hunters tour, resulted in another Tori Amos listening obsession. So I felt the need to update my "Best of Tori Amos list" and change it from a top 35 to a top 40. I actually listened to 188 different songs and it was very hard to pick the 40 that I like the most, but here they are. The old list can be found here.

I stole this concept from MustBeDreaming1 and I hope he don't mind. :-) I just thought it was very nice and also very difficult to make a list of the best songs of one of my favourite artists. So out of 174 different Tori Amos songs I picked the best (at least at this moment) and made my Top 35.

I saw some other people here do it, so I would also like to make a ranking list of all studio albums of Tori Amos.

I thought it was pretty difficult to rank her albums, because I like them all (except for Strange Little Girls). Some of her songs (and albums) I loved right from the start, while others first had to grow on me. And for some songs I lost a bit of interest along the way, maybe I listened to them a little bit too much. Anyway, here is my current list (I start with the best one on top, because I like that better):